The Cincinnati Bengals have taken risks on players with character issues in the past. And they’ve had pretty mixed results.
The latest such move is the drafting of wide receiver Colbie Young out of Georgia in the fourth round of this year’s Draft.
Back in October of 2024, Young was arrested and charged with battery and assault. But the woman involved in the incident later retracted her statement to police and requested that charges be dropped. Young also suffered a leg fracture midway through the 2025
season but was able to return for the team’s College Football Playoff loss to Ole Miss.
While other teams may have shied away from taking the talented receiver on account of that history, the Bengals did so with complete confidence, it seems.
Head coach Zac Taylor has made it clear that the team did extensive research on Young and came away confident in him as a human being.
“Talking to all the humans we talked to that really stood on the table for him, and Georgia returned him to play,” Taylor said following the selection of Young. “We just felt really comfortable with the person we are adding to our locker room, the person we are adding to our community, just all of us getting to know the kid.
“We feel really, really comfortable with bringing Colbie in here, and I think once you all get to know him, you will see the same thing we see.”
Taylor added that the Bengals “have a lot of people that have done a lot of research on [Young]” and that this time he feels “comfortable” and “great” about the situation.
Hopefully, this isn’t another Jermaine Burton situation, and we get to see Young consistently on the field catching passes from Joe Burrow.
